Mac Miller Is Dead at 26
Mac Miller, the Pittsburgh rapper whose music had graduated from “frat rap” to deeper fare that touched on themes of depression, paranoia, and self-acceptance, has died of an apparent overdose at his home in the San Fernando Valley, TMZ reported on Friday. He was 26.
Born Malcolm James McCormick, Miller rose to fame in his late teens with the mixtape K.I.D.S. (Kickin’ Incredibly Dope Shit); by age 20, he had a Platinum single and had topped the Billboard 200 chart with his 2011 debut studio album Blue Slide Park. He had collaborated with artists like Maroon 5 and Pharrell Williams, and toured with Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz. He was romantically linked to Ariana Grande from 2016 until May of 2018. Around the time of his death, he had been promoting his latest album, Swimming, released in early August. He was about to embark on a tour.
Miller was open about his history of substance abuse: He admitted using promethazine and cocaine in the years following the release of Blue Slide Park. On his 2014 mixtape Faces, he rapped (among other lyrics): “Don’t tell my mama I got a drug problem.” This May, he crashed his Mercedes-Benz G-Class in Southern California, an incident that eventually got him charged with DUI. He was reportedly facing up to six months in jail if convicted. “I get fucked up, let’s keep it real,” Miller said in a 2016 documentary titled Stopped Making Excuses. “I get super fucked up, still, all the time. That will never stop. But I’m in control of my life. I’m not fucked up right now. I’m chillin’.” Shortly after the car accident, Grande posted a statement that their relationship was “toxic” and that she had “cared for him and tried to support his sobriety.” Miller told Rolling Stone in an August story that part of his life was over: “If a bunch of people think I am a huge drug addict, okay. Cool. What can I really do? Go talk to all those people and be like ‘Naw man, it’s really not that simple?’” he said. “Have I done drugs? Yeah. But am I a drug addict? No.” In “2009” off Swimming, Miller rapped: “Sometimes, sometimes I wish I took a simpler route / Instead of havin’ demons that’s as big as my house.”
“There’s pressure,” Miller told New York’s Vulture earlier this year. “A lot of times in my life I’ve put this pressure to hold myself to the standard of whatever I thought I was supposed to be, or how I was supposed to be perceived. And that creates pressure . . . It’s annoying to be out and have someone come up to me and think they know. They’re like ‘Yo, man, are you okay?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m fucking at the grocery store.’ You know? It’s the job. This is what I signed up for. So, you just have to not. You have to have your own reality and that has to be the driving force of your life.”
If you or anyone you love is struggling with addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline at 1.800.662.HELP (4357).
